they say it’s because they are hard to predict
and even harder to forget
their naming ceremony broadcasted over live feeds, satellite images
insisting she settles on the tongues of both faithful and atheist
María: a road blocked by land that slides into
screaming mouths, the saltwater of sorrow stuck in throats
She: the howl of Guabancex, cousin to the merciless Santa Clara,
The lady of the Sea, her eye set on the sugarcane of Yabucoa
Her name a destruction so great it rests with sisters just as
deadly: Irma, Katrina
They say it’s easier to remember a woman’s name
than a set of numbers but her figure is unforgettable
Wet, wide-hipped woman, slit the throat of the horizon
leaving only damp bodies to sway under the moonlight
and still some men think they can simply dry what was
left of her with paper towels and a false prayer
Peggy Robles-Alvarado is a tenured New York City educator with graduate degrees in elementary and bilingual education. In 2018 she received an MFA in performance and performance studies from Pratt Institute. She is a 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee; a CantoMundo, Academy for Teachers, and Home School Fellow; a two-time International Latino Book Award winner; and author of Conversations with My Skin and Homage to the Warrior Women. Through RoblesWrites Productions, she edited the following anthologies: The Abuela Stories Project in 2016 and Mujeres, The Magic, The Movement and The Muse in 2017. For more information, visit RoblesWrites.com.
